The present invention is in the field of access openings provided with a selectively removable cover for effecting access to the interior of a hollow light pole or other similar housing. It should be noted that the following descriptive discussion for the sake of clarity and avoidance of confusion refers solely to “poles” as being the item with which the embodiments of the invention are associated; however, the invention is not limited to pole usage and can be employed on any one of a multitude of hollow housings requiring internal access. Light poles are frequently provided with hand hole access openings for permitting access to the interior chamber defined by the inside surface of the wall of the pole. A number of disadvantages and problems arise from the prior art structures. For example, many hand hole covers previously employed in the industry required the removal of two screws, one on each end of the cover, for enabling complete removal of the cover. Removal of the screws holding a cover in position on a hand hole can be time consuming due to the possibility of corrosion or stripping of the threads either in the hand hole housing or on the screws. Moreover, removal of both screws results in complete separation of the cover and screws from the pole so as to increase the possibility that the cover and/or screws will become disassociated from the pole and not be reconnected to the pole.
Many of the tamper resistant pole access devices employ special tools necessary for removing the access cover. Such devices consequently are more expensive to manufacture and require the additional expense of such special tools, Moreover, many of such devices still fail to prevent an unintentional loss of the cover. Thus, another problem with many of the prior known devices is that removal of the cover completely separates it from the access opening in the hand hole frame which results in potential exposure of the interior pole to the undesirable effects of inclement weather.
It is also necessary for access assembly covers to be made tamper and theft resistant for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, this desirable result has not been available with many of the prior art devices.
Other known prior art devices have been provided with a cover retention chain or cable attached to and extending between the hand hole frame and the cover with one such conventional prior art device being shown in FIG. 7. Such devices do not prevent opening of the cover but are frequently detrimental to providing complete access to the interior of the pole.
Another approach to dealing with the foregoing problems has involved the employment of fold out hinges joining the lower end of a cover to the lower end of the access opening in the pole. Such devices are complicated and expensive. Moreover, such devices are difficult to adjust and frequently require some alteration before they can be mounted in an aluminum pole. Also, the hinge assembly can intrude into the interior of the pole in such a way as to interfere with or foul the internal wiring in the pole. Moreover, the opening of such devices results in their being in an awkward position frequently making it difficult to fully access the interior of the pole. Therefore, it is the primary object of this invention to provide an access opening cover assembly that is easy to operate, reliable and economical.